Delhi markets may open soon, metro likely to resume from Monday

By Amit Pandey
New Delhi [India], June 5 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday is expected to announce measures for unlocking the city, which has been under COVID-19 induced lockdown and that may include the opening of the markets and resuming the metro services in the national capital from June 7 with conditions, said sources.
According to official sources, permission can be given to open the markets in Delhi from Monday with strict rules and the metro services likely to be resumed with half the capacity.
The Delhi Government is likely to give permission to open malls, markets, shopping complexes and stand-alone shops in the city at different times with conditions. Government and private offices can start operation with 50 percent staff, said sources.
Traders and businesses in Delhi have been constantly demanding to open the markets, as the city is a standstill for more than one and half months.
With a dip seen in active COVID-19 cases, Delhi had begun the unlocking process from May 31 with factories and the construction sector to resume operations.
The national capital has been under lockdown since April 19 in view of the massive surge in Covid-19 cases in the second wave of the pandemic. The city's healthcare infrastructure and crematoriums were hugely overburdened. The situation has, however, improved significantly.
Now the infection rate of COVID in Delhi has come down to less than one percent. In the last 24 hours, 523 fresh COVID-19 cases and 50 deaths have been recorded in the national capital.
However, the daily number was a bit higher than the day before when Delhi reported 487 COVID cases. The number of active cases in Delhi stands at 8,060. The new fatalities pushed the COVID death toll in Delhi to 24,497.